BP to begin gas production from North Alexandria Concession in early 2017

British oil major BP will begin gas production at its North Alexandria Concession in early 2017 rather than mid-2017, Egypt’s petroleum minister Tarek El Molla said at a news conference on Saturday.

The offshore concession’s output will be roughly “450 million cubic feet per day in 2017 and reach 1.2 billion cubic feet per day by the end of 2019,” said El Molla.

These volumes will mean a significant boost to gas production in Egypt, a country that has been searching for ways to plug acute energy shortages that have slowed production at many of the country’s energy-intensive industries.

BP also said this week it had been awarded three new offshore exploration blocks in Egypt and that it and its partners had committed to investment of $229 million.

Egyptian authorities have in recent months worked to improve terms for foreign oil and gas businesses in the hope that more competitive pricing will encourage investment in the energy-hungry country.

Location of BP’s West Nile Delta Project – which includes the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deep Water Concessions (Source: BP)

West Nile Delta (WND) is BP’s first operated project in Egypt outside of a joint venture. The agreement to develop resources in the area covers five fields in the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deep Water concessions. The complex 21-well development will tie-in to existing, upgraded and new infrastructure and target gas and condensate in the Giza, Fayoum, Raven, Taurus and Libra fields, located between 65 and 85 kms offshore, in waters up to 750 metres deep. All the gas from WND will go into the national gas grid, helping to meet Egypt’s projected growth in demand. This large-scale development is also set to create thousands of jobs during its construction phase.